When traveling in a massive country like Kazakhstan, you may find it hard to escape the city. Due to lack of public transportation and expensive tours, most backpackers you Kazakhstan as nothing more than a transit onwards to Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan. There are options, however, to take in some of the country’s natural beauty. Read how to escape Almaty and visit Charyn Canyon for cheap on the website, link in the bio! . . . . #kazakhstan #almaty #centralasia #adventuretravel #natgeo #lonelyplanet #followmefaraway #worldnomads #theglobewanderer #solotravel #traveldiary #welivetoexplore #adventuretravel #instatravel #travelgram #travelingram #travelblogger #bbctravel #backpacking #kazakh #instapassport #travelling #traveltheworld #seetheworld#travelpics #wanderlust #exploringtheglobe #travelphotography #backpacker #traveldeeper (at Almaty, Kazakhstan) https://www.instagram.com/p/Byz7MK5A2Em/?igshid=nb5dpjilngen
I just watched a documentary about a 13-year old girl named Aishol-pan, who became the first female in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter. She was so badass and fearless that I felt inspired to draw her.
What is the language called in English and the language itself? - The language is called Kazakh in English and қазақша (Qazaqşa) in the language itself.
Where is the language spoken? - Kazakh is the official language of Kazakhstan. It is also spoken in China, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and Germany.
How many people speak the language? - 12.9 million people speak Kazakh. Which language family does it belong to? What are some of its relative languages? - Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic language family. It’s closest language relatives are Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak.
What writing system does the language use? - Kazakh is written in Arabic, Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.
What kind of grammatical features does the language have? - Kazakh is a verb-final, nominative-accusative, head-final, left-branching, dependent-marking language. It may express different combinations of tense, aspect and mood through the use of various verbal morphology or through a system of auxiliary verbs. It has eight personal pronouns.
What does the language sound like?
- Kazakh has 18 consonants and 12 phonemic vowels. Kazakh exhibits tongue-root vowel harmony. You can listen to what the language sounds like here.
What do you personally find interesting about the language? - Kazakh belongs to the same language family as Turkish, which I absolutely adore. Kazakhstan is also such a beautiful country, I’d love to travel there some day. Wikipedia and Omniglot didn’t have much information on Kazakh grammar so I couldn’t find any interesting grammatical features to tell you guys about, but it’s nevertheless a beautiful and interesting language.
A lovely bridal headdress from Kazakh people, saukele. Saukeles are very long and uniquely decorated pieces. They also symbolize a status. They can be made from silk, felt etc. They are red since red has the meaning of abundance and protection in Turkic culture. I will try to make a post about the importance of colour red in Turkic cultures in the future too:)
Hair is a sacred thing in Turkic culture like many other shamanic cultures. Hence why women braid their hair in sacred numbers such as 40, 41, 7 etc. Men having long hair is also very normal and they also braid their hair. It’s known that when Turkmens first came to Anatolia their hairstyle was seen rather strange to Anatolia’s peoples. One of the primary sources for men’s hairstyles is that gravestones that can be found in many Turkic countries.
Hunting with trained golden eagles is a traditional winter pastime amoung Mongolia’s Kazakh minority in the Altai mountains. The eagles hunt foxes, and sometimes wolves, whose fur is made into warm coats and hats.
Photographs from Palani Mohan’s book, Hunting with Eagles: In the Realm of the Mongolian Kazakhs.
Hunting with eagles is a traditional form of falconry found through out the Eurasian steppe, practiced by Kazakh and Kyrgyz people in contemporary Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as diasporas in Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia, and Xinjiang, China. Though these Turkic people are most famous for hunting with golden eagles, they have been known to train northern goshawks, peregrine falcons, saker falcons, and more. Photo; Shohan the Kazakh nomadic Eagle Hunter, shot on horseback with his Eagle in Black River Valley, Altai Mountains, Mongolia
Trailer for The Eagle Huntress, a documentary about Aishol-pan, a 13 year old Kazakh girl living in Mongolia. Her father is considered one of the best eagle hunters in Mongolia, and after Aishol-pan demonstrates skill at working with his eagle, they decide she should catch an eagle of her own and become an eagle hunter in her own right, even though eagle-hunting is traditionally a men-only activity in Mongolia. It looks beautiful!
